East DR Congo militia violence forces thousands to flee

Written by Reuters, Wednesday, 12 July 2017

About 80,000 people fled fighting between the Democratic Republic of Congo army and a new rebel coalition, the United Nations said, joining millions already uprooted in Africa's worst displacement crisis.

Militia violence has intensified across Congo since President Joseph Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate in December, raising fears the country will slide back into the wars at the turn of the century that killed millions.

The latest fighting broke out in South Kivu province's Fizi territory, in the eastern part of the country. Government troops clashed with the National Coalition of the People for the Sovereignty of Congo (CNPSC), a new alliance of local self-defence militias, the UN Organisation for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a new report.

The rebels seized several towns last month before being beaten back by government troops, according to the army, which said at least a dozen people were killed in the clashes.

Conflict has forced more than 1.5 million Congolese to flee this year, far more than in Iraq or Syria. More than 3,000 died since last October in an insurrection against government in central Congo's Kasai region.

The conflict in Congo has been aggravated by Kabila's refusal to leave office. In power since 2001, he was required by the constitution to step down in December, but an election to replace him was postponed after delays registering millions of voters.

Congo's election commission president said the vote was unlikely to take place in 2017, either, largely due to the violence in Kasai.